CGAP
Understanding platform workers’ financial lives to inform inclusive solutions
WHAT?
Dalberg Design partnered with CGAP to conduct a foundational study exploring the financial and livelihood realities of platform workers across five countries: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, India, and Indonesia. Over the course of six months, we used a mixed-methods approach: conducted human-centered design (HCD) 1:1 interviews and small group discussions with 95 workers, facilitated locally-led community interviews with an additional 70 participants, managed WhatsApp groups with 59 workers over multiple weeks, and surveyed nearly 240 individuals across five key sectors: ride-hailing, delivery and logistics, personal and home services, e-lancing, and e-commerce.
WHY?
In many emerging markets, platform work has become a vital source of income for millions, but workers often operate in a gray zone: excluded from labor protections, vulnerable to income volatility, and underserved by formal financial systems. These challenges are amplified by gender disparities, limited safety nets, and fragmented policy responses.
Despite the sector’s rapid growth, few studies have captured the lived experiences of platform workers across geographies and sectors in a holistic way. This project set out to center worker voices, build understanding across stakeholders, and identify concrete ways to strengthen the resilience and financial security of this growing labor force.
OUTCOME
The research culminated in a rich, multi-country kit of parts designed to spark action among financial institutions, platforms, and policymakers. This modular set of outputs included four interlinked reports:
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Insight report detailing findings on platform worker livelihoods in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, India, and Indonesia.
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Exhaustive ecosystem maps outlining the relationships platform workers have with those in their communities, platforms, financial institutions, and government entities.
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Persona report outlining the different archetypes of platform workers across the five countries as well the nuances found at a national level.
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Opportunities report detailing potential strategies for the financial sector to to strengthen platform workers’ economic and financial resilience.
This body of work offered stakeholders actionable pathways to improve platform work experiences while supporting inclusive financial innovation at scale.
DURATION
6 months, 2021
LOCATION
India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa
MY ROLE
Conducted remote Design Research
Conducted Data synthesis
Facilitated local partners training
Developed Data Visualizations
Co-authored reports
TEAM
Michael Mori
Tolu Odusanya
Mihret Tamrat
Tanvi Dhond
LINKS
Explore: Financial inclusion for digital platform workers
Read: How can financial services support platform work? report
HOW?
To deeply understand platform workers’ lived experiences across five countries, we employed a layered, mixed-methods research approach that combined remote, in-person, and digital tools:
Remote HCD interviews: We conducted remote in-depth one-on-one and small group interviews with 95 platform workers to explore their life journeys, work histories, and financial realities.
Community-Led interviews: Local research partners trained by us, facilitated 70 in-person interviews, enabling shared agency, cultural grounding, and deeper contextual understanding.
WhatsApp panels: We moderated ongoing WhatsApp discussions with 59 platform workers to gather informal, peer-to-peer insights and explore emerging themes in a more conversational setting.
Short Surveys: Rapid, mobile-based surveys helped validate qualitative findings with broader, country-level quantitative snapshots from nearly 240 participants.
Media Diaries: Participants captured photos and videos to provide an unfiltered window into their environments. For those unable to do so, facilitators conducted community walks and documented spaces described by workers.
This methodology allowed us to layer diverse perspectives, capture nuanced realities across digital and physical platforms, and tailor insights to specific geographies and worker archetypes.